Illinoistocht

If you haven’t seen it, go out and rent or buy the documentary film “Spirit of the Marathon” on DVD today.   The trailer above focuses a little bit more on the elite athletes, but the best part of the documentary for me was the profiles of the amateur athletes training in Chicago.  I was surprised how merely watching the shots of the weekly training by the amateurs produced a wave of good feeling from my own memories of running along the Chicago lakefront.   The documentary not only features runner profiles, but there is a who’s who of notable runners whose comments are featured throughout the documentary.  If you’ve run the Chicago Marathon or run regularly in Chicago (particularly along the lakefront) this is a must-see.  It’s also a solid documentary film as well for everyone else.  See it!    

This my first blog post with multiple topics for which I decided were a little too short to warrant individual postings.  I’m naming this “grab-bag” post after a once favorite post-workout haunt where in addition to beverages and food, much discussion and musings were bandied about regarding various sporting topics.  

DTV Day is coming June 12, and if you aren’t ready just remember that you don’t have to pay the cable company as you still can get over-the-air with a converter box (or television with a digital tuner) and a good antenna.  I posted in March and in February on the topic.    Here’s a link to a new video on building a good antenna.    Universal Sports is often available over the air on a digital subchannel of select NBC affiliates, and as a bonus on DTV Day (June 12), they are televising same-day coverage of the Grand Prix swimming event, featuring at least 20 Olympians from Beijing, including  Michael Phelps.  Universal Sports is a definite plus for the DTV change, otherwise, the transition to DTV means that sometimes I get a crystal clear signal but other times a few of the channels drop out completely (where they had just been fuzzy or snowy) and whenever a private plane or helicopter goes overhead the signal almost always drops out temporarily.      

A reminder that this weekend is the monthly “Hike the Hennepin Challenge” for June.  

Grand Illinois trail (southern leg) condition update--speaking of the Hennepin, here’s a recent canal trail closure update.   Due to recent flooding events on the Hennepin canal trail, certain sections of the hard surfaced trail have been compromised requiring that those areas be closed to usage.  On the west end, from the bridge at Colona for I-80 to Lock 26, about  4.3 miles, is impassable and closed while on the east end, from Bridge 4 to Lock 3, about 5.6 miles, is closed.  Unfortunately a rider will need to use the roads in this area, with possible detours on the west end to exit east of Colona and use Cleveland / Dayton Corner / 2300N and E 900 to return to the canal.  In the east end, since the closure is more or less the end of the trail to Rte 29, its best to just exit the trail and make your way to the Grand Illinois Trail—I’d suggest the Openlands cue sheets.  For the I&M Canal, a recent update is that the washout east of Utica is still there (see the photo at the bottom of the “Bicycling the Canals” tab.  There is a new washout this year just east of the 5 mile bridge west of Morris.  For the Utica washout, you could take Dee Bennett Rd. from Utica to the Buffalo Rock Access to get around it, just be careful of the traffic on that road.  For the washout near Morris, to avoid: when you come to the large wooden arch bridge, (from the west) exit the trail onto Old Stage Rd and proceed east until you get to the Waupeacan Spillway and then you can get back on the trail. The spillway will be on your right about 2 miles down the road, there is a small parking lot there.   Careful on Old Stage as it is a narrow 2 lane.

If you are planning a ride on either the Hennepin or the I&M Canal trails, be sure to get an update on trail conditions and plan alternate routes if necessary.

Because it’s watered throughout, the Hennepin provides an excellent source of flatwater paddling.  As DNR indicates there are 29 miles (46.7 km) of flatwater portage-free paddling in the feeder canal as well as shorter sections between the locks in the main canal section (see also Canal Facts tab on this website).  (See the Illinois Paddling Council's website as well as Chicago paddling  for additional information.)  While the locks and some of the bridges need to be portaged on the Hennepin, they are never that difficult given the easy access of the trail. 

Who knows, maybe someday there could be a variety of summer adventure tour events to complement a winter Illinoistocht skate on the Hennepin.  While the inspiration for a marathon skate, the Dutch Elfstedentocht, is held infrequently owing to the lack of a regular deep freeze each winter in the Netherlands, there are summer events held there every year employing a variety of means of locomotion.  There is the 11 city rowing relay marathon held in the late spring for the last 25 years where 1,100 people participate in teams of 9 to 12 people to row the 200 km (124 mile) course in under 24 hours.    There is also the one-day 11 city bike tour with a RAGBRAI-sized 15,000 participants riding a 240 km (149 miles) route.  There are also multi-day canoe and kayak events in the area as well. 

As to the Illinois canals, I’ve corresponded with someone that went the length of the Hennepin in a square-backed canoe with an outboard—has anyone done a paddle trip of the entire Hennepin?  By the way, there’s an epic event now every year in Illinois' neighboring state, the Missouri River 340, a paddle trip from Kansas City across the state to St. Charles, MO of 340 miles (547 km).  Unlike the Elfsteden rowing relay, each participant paddles the entire course, either solo or in a boat with a crew, in under 88 hours—only 2/3 of the entrants made it within the time cutoff last year.